Children's Care Bear character hailed as transgender in tax-funded exhibit

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, July 29, 2026

A taxpayer-funded exhibition in the United Kingdom is drawing attention for presenting a popular children’s toy and cartoon character as an LGBT role model, praising the character for having “queer resonance.”

The project, titled “Villiers Revealed,” was developed by Culture Leicestershire and received public funding from Arts Council England. One section of the exhibition explores the Care Bears as potentially “a symbol for the LGBTQA+ community,” and says some of the bears are “transgender or gender fluid.”

The Care Bears are characters created in 1981 by American Greetings for greeting cards. They were later sold as toys and featured in animated cartoons.

One of the bears, Funshine, is described in the exhibit as a potential “symbol for the LGBTQA+ community.” Funshine Bear was originally written as a female character in 1980s cartoons and specials but was changed to a male character in later Care Bears media.

According to the exhibition, “Having a character like Funshine who transitions, with a positive characterisation, sends a strong message to those going through a similar change.”

Similar conclusions about Funshine were made in a report by University of Nottingham master’s student Bryony Reeves. Nottingham students joined Culture Leicestershire in helping create the Villiers Revealed project. 

The exhibit states that the Care Bears are inspiring because they “disrupt gender norms through their expression of their true selves but are accepted regardless.”

In addition to the Care Bears, the exhibition discusses mermaids, asserting that because a mermaid's “genitalia is not visible,” it is “irrelevant to their gender expression.”

Another section examines the legacy of the British Empire, arguing that colonial rule contributed to the “suppression of queerness” as well as the “repression and erasure of queer and trans identities.”

The exhibition contends that “colonialism disproportionately erased fluidity in gender and sexuality, particularly among black, brown indigenous and other people of colour.”

In response to an inquiry from The Christian Post, Arts Council England said funding recipients are responsible for the content they produce.

“Recipients of Arts Council England funding are fully responsible for their operations, artistic programme, and the day-to-day management of their activities,” Arts Council England stated.

“Leicestershire County Council receives funding from the Arts Council as a member of our National Portfolio, with an annual award of £260,999 ($346,737.17),” the organization added. “Leicestershire County Council hosts the Museum Development Service for museums in the Midlands.”

Culture Leicestershire did not immediately respond to CP's request for comment. This article will be updated if a response is received.

Through the virtual exhibition, Culture Leicestershire invites people to “explore hidden LGBTQ+ narratives in our collections — stories that haven’t always been told, but have always been here.”

The exhibition was initially a physical display at the Melton Carnegie Museum in Melton Mowbray but is now presented digitally. Creator John Sleigh said the reason for the digital platform is that “some people simply aren’t ready or able to access queer spaces physically.”

Last year, the Science Museum in London made headlines over a self-guided tour titled “Seeing Things Queerly.”

The “Seeing Things Queerly” tour was created by the museum's gender and sexuality network for people to explore “stories of queer communities, experiences and identities,” according to its website.

One feature of the self-guided tour is a bucket of Lego bricks, with the museum guide explaining that the children’s toy is often described in a “gendered way.”

Fiona McAnena, director of advocacy for the nonprofit Sex Matters, which supports women's right to female-exclusive spaces, told The Telegraph in February 2025 that the guide for “Seeing Things Queerly” is “completely bonkers.”

“The idea that Lego is ‘heteronormative’ because the blocks are described as ‘male’ and ‘female’ is ridiculous,” McAnena said. “Children who play with Lego don’t need to be told that some people say fitting Lego blocks together is ‘mating.’”